Snakes and Lions
by cleotheo
Summary: When Harry and Ron hear that Hermione is dating a Slytherin, they set out to find which one as they can't believe their friend would fall for any of the snakes. Fun, lighthearted one shot.


**A/N - Just a fun little one shot, featuring one of my favourite one shot plots - Harry and Ron finding out about Hermione and Draco. Enjoy!**

* * *

Standing outside of the head dorms, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley knocked on the wooden door that wouldn't open to anyone other than the head students. Unless you happened to have either the Head Boy or the Head Girl's wand, the only way into the room was with a password and neither Harry nor Ron knew the password. They'd both tried asking their best friend, Hermione Granger, for the password, but she was adamant they didn't need it. According to Hermione the only time they would be in the head dorms was when they were with her, and she would be there to let them in.

"It doesn't look like she's here," Harry remarked as Ron knocked for the fourth time.

"See, this is why we need the password," Ron grumbled. "If we had the password, we could have let ourselves in and found the notes without having to trouble Hermione."

It was a few days into the Easter holidays, and Harry and Ron were trying to do some revision for their upcoming exams. However, when they'd come to study for History of Magic, they found that neither of them had very good notes. Luckily, Hermione took comprehensive notes in every lesson, and they were hoping she would give them a copy of her notes so they could at least try and revise the boring stuff they learnt about in History of Magic.

"She would love that," Harry replied with a snort. "We don't even know if she'll give us her notes, you know how fussy she can be about helping us."

In their first couple of years at school, Hermione had been willing to cut the boys some slack and help them with their homework, but as the years passed her help had changed somewhat. She would still help them, but that would consist of her telling them where to find the information they needed. She refused to just give them the answers, as she said it would never teach them anything. She also said that if they were really struggling they should talk to the Professors and get extra help, although neither Harry nor Ron had ever followed that particular bit of advice from their best friend.

"Where else should we try?" Ron asked, giving up trying to get a response from the head dorms. "It's raining outside, so she has to be in the castle somewhere."

"We can try the library," Harry suggested. "And if she's not there, we can try using the Marauders Map."

Harry tried not to use the map as far as his friends were concerned as he didn't like the idea he could spy on them without their knowledge. However, if they couldn't find Hermione in the library he would quickly use the map to locate their friend. He could manage that without intruding into her privacy.

Heading off to the library, Harry and Ron were dismayed when an initial walkthrough of the room showed no sign of Hermione. There were plenty of students, mainly seventh and fifth years, dotted around studying for their upcoming exams, but no sign of Hermione. However, the library was pretty vast and they both knew that Hermione had an uncanny ability to find the quietest corner in a room and settle down unnoticed.

Ten minutes later the pair had scoured the entire room, and still found no sign of their best friend. They'd even asked a few people, but no-one had seen Hermione. Deciding it was best to go and get the map so they could find Hermione without having to wander through the entire castle, Harry and Ron turned to leave the library. However, as they passed the charms section, they got distracted when they heard someone mention their names. Curious as to who was gossiping about them, Harry and Ron snuck into the charms section and peering through a gap in one of the bookshelves they found two Slytherins, Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass, sitting at a nearby table taking a break from their revision and exchanging the latest gossip.

"Oblivious to the end, that's those two," Pansy said with a laugh.

"To be fair to Potter and Weasley, Granger has been pretty secretive," Daphne replied. "They probably haven't even realised she's keeping such a big secret from them."

"Of course they haven't," Pansy scoffed. "They probably still think she's some innocent little virgin. What neither Potter nor Weasley realise is that their best friend is a girl, and like every other girl she has romantic yearnings. They just see her as a little bookworm. Neither of them would ever guess she's got a love life."

"And certainly not with a Slytherin," Daphne added with a chuckle. "Who would ever think the Gryffindor golden girl would get involved with a big, bad Slytherin."

"Not Potter and Weasley," Pansy replied. "Although, I can't wait for their reactions when they find out what's going on."

"Who's to say they're going to have strong reactions?" Daphne asked with a shrug of her shoulders. "They might be mature enough to accept its Granger's life and she can get involved with whoever she wants."

Pansy turned to look at Daphne in disbelief. "You honestly think Potter and Weasley won't react to the fact Granger is sleeping with a Slytherin? Remember the fuss they made at the beginning of the year when they found out who the Head Boy was?"

"Oh yeah," Daphne replied with a nod. When Harry and Ron had found out Draco Malfoy was the Head Boy and would be sharing dorms with Hermione, they'd made their disapproval known to the entire school and only Hermione publically scolding them made them stop their complaining.

"So if that's their response to Granger living with a Slytherin, just imagine their response when they find out she's dating one," Pansy said with a smirk. "It's going to be fun."

"What if they don't find out?" Daphne asked. "Granger might never tell them, and they're too thick to work it out on their own."

"She's got to tell them sometime soon," Pansy replied with a shrug. "She may be able to hide her sex life in school, but it can't stay a secret if they're going to carry on seeing each other after school. And we both know, the end of school isn't going to end their romance."

"It might," Daphne replied. "Who knows what the future will bring."

"Come on, he's besotted with her," Pansy said. "Have you ever seen him like this before? I'm telling you, this is serious between him and Granger."

"It's so romantic," Daphne said with a sigh. "A Gryffindor and a Slytherin finding love together."

"Ugh, don't go getting soppy on me," Pansy groaned.

As the girls changed the subject, Harry and Ron shared a worried look before they snuck out of the library. Instead of heading back to Gryffindor Tower, they darted into a nearby empty classroom as they digested what they'd just heard. Neither of them could believe that Hermione would get involved with a Slytherin, but Pansy and Daphne had seemed pretty certain.

"Well?" Ron questioned, breaking the silence as he looked for Harry's opinion. "What do you think?"

"I'd love to think Parkinson and Greengrass were mistaken, but it definitely sounded as though they knew something we don't," Harry replied. "As bizarre as it sounds, I think Hermione could be dating a Slytherin."

"But which one?" Ron questioned. "I can't see how she would know any of the younger ones, so that leaves five boys in our year."

"I think we can take the options down to three," Harry replied. "I can't see her getting involved with Crabbe or Goyle. They're hardly the most intelligent of people, and they're not so good looking that she would overlook their lack of brains."

"That leaves Malfoy, Nott and Zabini," Ron said. "They're all as unlikely as each other in my opinion."

"If you look at it logically, it could be any of them," Harry mused thoughtfully. "She lives with Malfoy, therefore they've had ample opportunity to get friendly. Zabini is a known charmer, and he could have turned his charm on Hermione. As for Nott, he's a friend of Malfoy's so he could have been around the head dorms."

"I suppose I can get away with Nott," Ron muttered. "I can't see Hermione falling for Zabini's charms. Everyone knows he's a womanizer, and I don't think Hermione would get involved with someone as flaky as him."

"What about Malfoy? He's still the person she would spend the most time with."

"Nah, I can't see her with Malfoy either," Ron replied with a grimace. "Besides, every time you do see them together they're always bickering. You should see them at prefect meetings, sometimes we're all on edge waiting for them to tear into each other. There's no romance going on there."

"So what do we do?" Harry asked. "Do we ask her about this?"

"Would she tell us the truth? She's been hiding this from us for who knows how long."

"Then what do you suggest?" Harry questioned.

"Find out which one she's seeing, and catch them together," Ron replied with a smirk. "She can't deny it if we catch her in the act."

"I guess that could work," Harry said with a nod. "We could use the map to help us find her and keep track of her. Hopefully by the end of the holidays, we'll know the truth."

* * *

After spending the rest of the day making plans, Harry and Ron decided to begin their investigation at dinner. Unfortunately even though they kept dropping the Slytherins into conversation, Hermione didn't react to any of their names. If they hadn't heard Pansy and Daphne with their own ears, they would have thought they'd been fed some bad information.

"Hermione, can we borrow your History of Magic notes?" Harry asked when Hermione got up to leave the Great Hall.

"Sure," Hermione replied. "They're up in my room. Come with me and I'll grab them for you."

The trio left the Great Hall together and headed to the head dorms. As usual when they got to the door, Hermione pulled out her wand and waved it across the lock. Instantly the door sprung open and they headed inside the roomy head dorms. The common room was a mixture of Gryffindor and Slytherin styles, and was more than large enough to accommodate several people.

"I'll just go and get my notes," Hermione said as she set off up head up the stairs.

While Hermione was off finding her notes, Harry and Ron settled down on one of the large sofas that sat either side of the fire. They'd only been sitting there for a couple of minutes, when the door to the head dorms opened again and Draco entered with his two best friends, Blaise and Theo.

"What are you two doing here?" Draco asked, sighing as he laid eyes on Hermione's two friends.

"Getting some notes from Hermione," Harry replied. "But we might stick around for a while and catch up. We haven't seen her all day."

"Great, just what we need, Gryffindors," Draco grumbled under his breath. "I'll go and grab my books lads, take a seat."

Instead of settling down on the second sofa, Blaise and Theo settled down at the table over the other side of the room and began pulling their books from their bags. Obviously the Slytherins were going to try and get some studying done.

"This could be handy," Ron whispered to Harry. "We can witness Hermione interacting with all three of them and try to work out which one she's seeing."

Harry nodded in agreement as they heard footsteps on the stairs. Seconds later, Hermione appeared carrying a notebook. Handing the notebook to Harry, she turned to the two Slytherins and said hello.

"Hey Hermione," Theo replied, smiling at the brunette witch.

"Hi gorgeous," Blaise added with a saucy wink. "You're looking good today."

"Thank you Blaise," Hermione replied with a chuckle, before turning her attention back to her friends. "You can stay for a while if you want, but only if you don't disturb the boys and their studying."

"We won't disturb them," Harry vowed. "We can just sit and talk quietly."

"Okay, but first, does anyone want a drink?" Hermione asked.

Harry and Ron both immediately accepted the offer of a drink, as did Blaise and Theo. When Hermione asked what sort of drink they wanted, Harry and Ron opted for pumpkin juice while Blaise asked for an apple juice. Theo, meanwhile, just asked for his usual and Hermione handed him a glass of cranberry juice. She also placed a third glass of juice on the table for when Draco came back down.

"What do you think?" Harry whispered to Ron as Hermione finished handing the drinks round. "Zabini was flirting with her, and she knows what sort of juice Nott and Malfoy drink."

"Zabini flirts with every girl he sees, and Hermione might just be observant regarding the juice," Ron replied. "I'm reserving judgement for the time being."

Half an hour later, Harry and Ron were still no wiser as to which Slytherin Hermione was dating. After handing out the juice, she settled down to talk to them and barely acknowledged their presence. Harry and Ron did think they might get a bit more of a hint as they were preparing to leave and Hermione said she was heading off in the bath.

"I'll come and wash your back if you want," Blaise called.

"I think I can manage, Blaise," Hermione replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Just let me know if you need any help," Blaise replied. "I'm always willing to help a hot, sexy, naked witch."

"I bet you are," Hermione retorted with a laugh.

While Blaise turned back to his studying, Hermione said goodbye to Harry and Ron and the two Gryffindors exited the head dorms and made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. They still had no solid answers as to which Slytherin Hermione was with, but they had found out that Hermione wasn't as opposed to Blaise's flirting as they'd thought she would be. Suddenly it didn't seem as hard to believe that she could have fallen for his charms and hopped into bed with the good-looking wizard.

* * *

The next day, armed with the Marauders Map, Harry and Ron continued their quest to find out which Slytherin Hermione was dating. They spent the morning watching Hermione in the library, and until half an hour before lunch, she was alone. However, just as they were giving up hope of seeing anything interesting that morning, Blaise sauntered into the library and settled himself next to Hermione.

Since they hadn't wanted Hermione to know they were spying on her, Harry and Ron were hidden behind some bookshelves, and they couldn't get any closer without alerting their friend to their presence. However, that meant they couldn't hear what exactly was being said between Hermione and Blaise. They just had to settle for watching the pair, although from their body language they were clearly flirting with one another. While it was pretty natural to see Blaise flirting with a pretty girl, they were surprised to see that Hermione was flirting back.

"They're certainly looking cosy," Harry muttered as Hermione laughed lightly at something Blaise had said. "I can see sparks."

"I think she's just being friendly," Ron argued.

Harry didn't really agree that Hermione was just being friendly, but he'd come to suspect that Ron wasn't going to believe she was with any of the Slytherins until they caught her in the act. However, Harry was beginning to lean towards her being involved with Blaise. Blaise openly flirted with her, and the previous evening he'd done so in front of both his friends, and Harry couldn't see him doing that if Hermione was involved with either Draco or Theo.

A few short hours later, Harry was rethinking his theory. After lunch, Hermione had met up with Theo and the pair had spent the afternoon in an empty classroom. Obviously the pair being in a classroom presented problems for Harry and Ron, and they had to take turns sneaking peaks through a crack in the door. For the most part the pair seemed to be studying, but they were sitting awfully close and several times Harry and Ron heard the pair laughing together.

When the pair finally packed up and left the classroom, Harry and Ron darted into a nearby alcove and watched as Hermione said goodbye to Theo.

"And you're sure tomorrow afternoon's okay?" Theo checked.

"I am," Hermione replied. "I'll have the head dorms to myself since Draco is going to be at quidditch practice. If I'm not there, you can just let yourself in and get set up. You remember the password, don't you?"

"Yeah," Theo answered. "I wrote it down somewhere safe when you gave it to me."

Giving Theo a warm smile, Hermione leant over and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Excellent, see you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow, Hermione," Theo called, before he turned and headed off to the dungeons with a large smile plastered over his face.

From the alcove, Harry and Ron shared a considering look. They hadn't seen anything solid to indicate Hermione and Theo were more than friends, but the potential for romance was definitely there. The pair clearly got along well, and more importantly Hermione had given him the password to the head dorms, something which she hadn't even given them and they were her best friends.

With Theo taking the lead in their investigation, Harry and Ron snuck out of the alcove and using the Marauders Map to ensure they didn't lose her, followed Hermione back to the head dorms. When Hermione arrived back at the head dorms, Harry and Ron snuck into yet another alcove. They'd slid into the shadows just in time as well, as no sooner had Hermione pulled out her wand to open the door than Professor McGonagall appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Hermione, could you give me a hand for a moment?" McGonagall asked. "I won't keep you too long, I promise."

"Of course, Professor." Hermione smiled at McGonagall as she put her wand away and headed off to help her head of house.

"What do we do now?" Ron asked.

"We need to find a way to get into the head dorms," Harry replied. "If Hermione's meeting Nott tomorrow, we need to be there."

As they mused on ways to get the password to the head dorms, they failed to spot Blaise sauntering past their hiding place. It wasn't until the dark haired Slytherin knocked on the door that they even knew he was there. When Blaise got no reply, he glanced around before turning back to the door and muttering the password. The second the door opened, Blaise darted inside and the door shut behind him again.

"Did you hear the password?" Harry asked Ron, who slowly shook his head. "I know, let's go and grab the invisibility cloak. We can be back before Hermione returns, and we can sneak in with her. That way we'll find out what Zabini is up to."

Ron quickly agreed and the pair rushed off to Gryffindor Tower, not knowing that seconds after they abandoned their position outside the head dorms, Ron's sister, Ginny, appeared and was greeted at the door of the head dorms by a half-naked Blaise.

* * *

"Damn, we might be too late now," Ron complained as he and Harry sprinted back to the head dorms.

Their trip to Gryffindor Tower had taken longer than they'd expected as when they'd arrived at the common room, there was no sign of The Fat Lady. A group of Gryffindors were waiting outside of the common room, annoyed that The Fat Lady had gone walkabouts. The group were waiting for her to return, or for someone to exit the common room, but neither were happening very quickly. In the end, Harry and Ron were stuck outside of Gryffindor Tower for nearly fifteen minutes, before one of the younger students inside the common room decided to leave, paving the way for everyone else to enter the common room.

"I'll check the map," Harry panted as they slid to a halt outside the head dorms. Reaching into his pocket, he swore quietly when he found no sign of the map.

"What is it?" Ron asked.

"The map must have fallen out of my pocket while I was grabbing the cloak from my trunk," Harry answered. "I know I had it when we entered Gryffindor Tower, but now it's gone."

"What do we do?" Ron asked, looking towards the head dorms. "Chances are Hermione's still in there with Zabini."

"Without the password, we're stuck," Harry said with a shrug. "We could hang around for a bit, but the only person who could help us is Malfoy. He might come along, but then again if he knows about Hermione and Zabini he might be staying out of the way."

"Or he could be in there with Zabini," Ron argued. "We don't know who Zabini got the password off, and personally I think she seemed closer to Nott."

For a few minutes, the pair stood outside the head dorms debating who Hermione was most likely involved with. Ron didn't want to believe she was involved with any of the Slytherins, but he was going with Theo. Harry on the other hand, thought it was much more likely that Hermione was with Blaise and they'd arranged to meet in the head dorms, which was how he'd gotten the password.

The pair were still debating their opinions when they heard footsteps approaching them. Not sure if they had enough time to dart into the nearby alcove without being seen, Harry threw the invisibility cloak over them. Mere seconds after they disappeared from view, Draco strode into the hallway and approached the head dorms. Pulling out his wand, he waved it over the lock and frowned when the door didn't open.

"Mermaid's Lagoon," He said out loud, trying the password as a way of gaining access to the dorms as his wand didn't seem to be working. When the door still remained shut, he gave it a kick. "Bloody door, why won't you work."

Draco tried the door a couple more times, and every time it wouldn't open he swore and gave the door a swift kick. After a few minutes of trying unsuccessfully to open the door, Draco was shocked when the door suddenly flew open and Hermione stood in the doorway glaring at him. Harry and Ron weren't as surprised to see Hermione as they suspected she'd done something to stop Draco from disturbing her.

"What's going on, Granger?" Draco asked as he strode through the open door.

Taking advantage of the door still being open, Harry and Ron quickly darted through it. They'd no sooner gotten through the door, then Hermione slammed it shut behind them. Unsure of what they were going to see, Harry and Ron settled themselves on the floor against the wall. At least this way they could sit and try and figure out what was going on and who Hermione was actually dating.

"I asked you a question, Hermione," Draco said. "Why couldn't I get into the dorms?"

"I changed the password," Hermione replied with a shrug as she stalked over to stand in front of the fire.

"You changed the password," Draco repeated in disbelief. "Without consulting me."

"You're the bloody reason I changed it," Hermione snapped. "We agreed not to give the password out unless we had a good reason."

"I know," Draco replied with a nod. "And I haven't given the password to anyone. Unlike you, I might add."

"I've given the password to one person," Hermione argued. "And he's one of your best friends. Besides, Theo doesn't misuse the password. He only uses it when he's coming to study."

"Hold on, how did changing the password stop my wand from working?" Draco asked, getting distracted as the thought suddenly popped into his head.

"You need to reregister your wand with the new password," Hermione answered.

"Are you going to give me the new password?" Draco asked.

"Not right now," Hermione replied. "I don't know if I trust you not to give it to Blaise again."

Draco grimaced slightly as he realised what must have happened. A few months ago, he'd given Blaise the password to the dorms so he could entertain one of his girlfriends. Knowing Blaise, he hadn't treated it as the one off it was meant to be and no doubt he was regularly using the dorms as a place to bring his conquests. Chances were, Hermione had caught his best friend in the act.

"I see you know what I'm talking about," Hermione said, spotting the blond's reaction.

"It was meant to be a one off," Draco said. "I gave him the password months ago. I had no idea he was still using it."

"Not only was he using the password, he was also using my bed," Hermione yelled. "I caught him in my bed."

"It's not like you use it these days," Draco replied with a cheeky smile.

"I'm hardly likely to be using it again after this," Hermione retorted, before shaking her head to refocus herself. "But that is not the point. The point is, I caught your best friend in my bed with Ginny."

"Weaselette?" Draco questioned, his surprised cry drowning out the startled gasp Ron made from across the room.

"I told you not to call her that," Hermione scolded. "But yes, I caught Blaise in bed with Ginny. Not that he was bothered in the slightest. He seemed to think it was perfectly okay for him to use my bed for his cheap conquests."

"You are aware you've just called your friend, a cheap conquest, aren't you?" Draco said with a laugh. Personally he thought it summed Ginny up perfectly.

"Let's not get into Ginny and her promiscuous ways," Hermione said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I'm more concerned about you giving Blaise permission to use my bedroom for his liaisons. Who knows how many tarts he's had in my bed?"

"Knowing Blaise, a fair few," Draco replied with a grin.

"This is not funny, Draco," Hermione seethed.

"It kind of is if you think about it," Draco said. "Come on Hermione, you have to see the funny side. I bet you gave Blaise a shock walking in on him."

"He was just concerned that he didn't get to finish," Hermione said with a snort. "He wasn't at all embarrassed that I'd caught him naked in my bed. In fact, he seemed to like showing himself off."

Draco growled softly at the thought of Blaise showing off, causing Hermione to let out a small smile. As Hermione's temper slowly began to abate, Harry and Ron shared a horrified look. It would seem all their deductions were wrong, and Hermione wasn't involved with Blaise or Theo. If they were reading things right, Hermione was involved with the Head Boy himself.

"I promise I'll make sure he never does it again," Draco vowed.

"What, use my bedroom or give me a flash of his considerable goods?" Hermione asked with a teasing smile.

"Both," Draco replied with another low growl. "And what do you mean considerable?"

"Let's just say Blaise has a lot to offer a girl," Hermione replied. "I have to say, he's pretty impressive normally, but when he's naked he's smoking hot."

"Smoking hot?" Draco raised an eyebrow at Hermione as he took a few strides towards the feisty Gryffindor and backed her up against the nearby wall. "I can give you smoking hot."

Hermione shook her head as she ducked down and slid underneath Draco's arm. "You can't sweet talk me. I'm still mad at you for giving Blaise the password."

"I bet I can make you forget all about that," Draco replied cockily.

"I don't think so," Hermione replied as she stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her boyfriend. "I'm mad, Draco, and nothing you can say will change that."

"Who said I was going to say anything," Draco said with a smirk as he began to slowly unbutton his shirt.

Hidden under the invisibility cloak, Harry and Ron's eyes widened in panic as Draco stripped off his shirt. They had been hoping he was going to stop there, but instead he sat down and pulled off his shoes and socks. Getting to his feet again, he then removed his trousers, leaving him standing in a pair of black boxers.

"Still mad?" Draco asked Hermione with a knowing smirk. Hermione's eyes were all over him, and when she looked up at him he could see the lust in her brown orbs.

"Of course," Hermione replied, although she sounded distinctly unsure.

"I can always apologise again," Draco said.

"What did you have in mind?" Hermione asked.

Instead of replying, Draco pulled Hermione into his arms and firmly planted his lips over hers. Hermione didn't instantly melt into his touch like she usually did, but he was confident he would win her over. Sure enough, it didn't take long for Hermione to put aside her annoyance and eagerly respond to her boyfriend's sensual kisses.

"We have to stop this," Ron hissed to Harry as the two head students stopped kissing and Draco pulled Hermione's top over her head.

"Maybe they'll go to their room," Harry whispered back. He couldn't see any way of stopping their friend without revealing they were in the room, and he didn't want to let Hermione know they'd been spying on her.

Crossing his fingers, Ron hoped Harry was right. However, Hermione and Draco seemed quite content in the common room as Hermione wriggled out of her jeans, leaving her in a matching red bra and knickers set.

"I'm still not sure this constitutes as an apology," Hermione murmured as Draco pressed feather light kisses on her neck and shoulder.

"I haven't even started yet," Draco replied, tearing himself away from Hermione's neck and grinning down at his girlfriend.

Before Hermione could respond, Draco had walked them back a few paces and settled her down on the sofa. Unfortunately, it was the sofa facing Harry and Ron and they were left in little doubt as to how the blond was going to apologise when he sunk to his knees in front of Hermione and slung one of her legs over his shoulder.

"I think I'm going to enjoy this apology," Hermione said with a dreamy sigh as she felt Draco's warm breath through her silky knickers.

"Me too," Draco agreed as he slowly began to ease the silky material away from Hermione's lower region.

"No!" Ron suddenly called, unable to take any more.

Hermione and Draco both froze at the sound of Ron's voice. As the two head students tried to work out where the noise had come from, Ron swept the cloak to one side and got to his feet. Harry sheepishly did the same, and the pair prepared to face their best friends' wrath.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't stay silent a moment longer," Ron said. "I've already seen more than enough."

At the realisation she was sitting in her underwear in front of her friends, Hermione quickly summoned her bathrobe from upstairs. As she pulled her bathrobe on, Draco yanked on his trousers as he glared at the Gryffindor duo who'd interrupted his fun.

"What on earth is going on?" Hermione demanded once she was covered up. "Please tell me this isn't what it looks like."

"What does it look like?" Ron asked with a grimace.

"It looks like the pair of you are peeping toms," Draco replied. "How else do you explain watching us stripping off?"

"We didn't know you were going to do anything right here," Harry argued. "We thought you would go upstairs."

"But why were you even in here?" Hermione asked. "And how did you get in?"

"We came in with Malfoy," Harry answered. "We were under the invisibility cloak."

"Why?" Hermione asked. "What were you hoping to achieve?"

"We wanted to know which Slytherin you were seeing," Ron admitted sheepishly.

"How did you even know I was with a Slytherin?" Hermione asked in surprise. Of course she'd been planning on telling her friends about her romance, but given their hatred of Slytherins, she'd been putting it off for several months now.

"We overheard Parkinson and Greengrass talking in the library," Harry answered. "They said you were dating a Slytherin and we were trying to work our which one."

"Why didn't you just ask me?" Hermione asked.

"Why didn't you just tell us in the first place?" Ron shot back. "We're you're best friends, Hermione, do you not think we deserved to know?"

"I'm sorry," Hermione said softly. "I've been meaning to tell you for ages, but I've been too scared to."

"Why?" Harry asked. "Are you ashamed of sleeping with Malfoy?"

"Of course I'm not," Hermione replied in indignation. "I wouldn't sleep with someone I was ashamed of being with."

"Then why not tell us?" Ron asked.

"Because she was worried you would disown her," Draco said, answering for Hermione when she opened her mouth to reply and nothing came out. "She was worried your hatred for me would mean more to you than her. She didn't want to lose your friendship."

"That would never happen," Harry insisted.

"Really?" Hermione asked quietly. "Can you blame me for being wary after the fuss the pair of you made at the beginning of the year when you found out Draco and I would be living together? You were so angry then, can you blame me for thinking your reaction would be worse when you found out we were a couple?"

Harry and Ron were silent for a while as they thought about what Hermione was saying. Of course they were hurt that she hadn't confided in them about her romance, but they were more hurt that their past actions had made her doubt their loyalty to her. By being so rash and judgemental, they'd made their best friend worry that they would end their friendship because of her choice of boyfriend.

"We're sorry," Harry said quietly. "We're sorry for spying on you today, but mainly we're sorry we ever gave you reason to doubt us. We might not like your boyfriend, but we're not going to fall out over it. You'll always be our best friend, no matter who you date."

Hermione smiled at Harry, before nervously turning to Ron. Ron had always been more volatile than Harry, and she really didn't know what his reaction was going to be. He might agree with Harry, or he might take a totally different view and completely blow up at her.

"I'm with Harry," Ron said, offering Hermione a small smile. "I don't like your choice of boyfriend, but it's not going to affect our friendship. I'm just sorry you felt as though you had to hide it from us."

"I'm sorry I didn't have more faith in the pair of you," Hermione replied. "I should have told you the truth and trusted you to act like the good friends I know you are."

"Okay, so we're all sorry," Draco drawled. "Well apart from me, I've got nothing to be sorry about." Hermione turned and gave her boyfriend a withering look, which even had Harry and Ron wincing. "Ah yes, the Blaise thing," He added sheepishly. "Obviously, I'm very sorry about that, and when Potter and Weasley leave, I'll get back to my apology. I've even make it an extra-long one."

"And that is our cue to leave," Harry muttered with a grimace.

"Don't think I've forgotten about this," Hermione warned her friends. "I think we need to have a talk about boundaries."

"Do it tomorrow," Draco urged as his hand slid under Hermione's robe and squeezed her backside.

Ron shuddered at what he was seeing and turned to leave, before an earlier horrific memory returned to him. Pausing he turned back to Hermione. "Hermione, did you mean what you said about Ginny?"

Hermione grimaced as she remembered her earlier description of Ron's younger sister. "Did I mean what exactly?"

"That you caught her in bed with Zabini," Ron clarified.

"Yeah," Hermione answered with a nod. "I'm sorry Ron, but it's true. She and Blaise were rather preoccupied when I caught them."

Ron nodded and apologising once again, he and Harry exited the head dorms.

"Well, that was a bit more than I wanted to know," Harry remarked as they slowly began making their way back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Tell me about it," Ron grumbled. "Did you know my little sister was such a tart?"

"I'm sure she's not that bad, Ron," Harry reassured his friend. To be honest he'd heard a few rumours about how easy Ginny was, but he'd never wanted to say anything to upset Ron.

"Just wait until Mum gets her hands on her," Ron muttered darkly. "Then she'll regret shagging Slytherins."

"Speaking of shagging Slytherins, what do you think about Hermione and Malfoy?" Harry asked.

Ron shrugged, still trying to pretend he hadn't seen half of what he'd just witnessed. "I can't say I like Malfoy, but Hermione seems happy. I guess as long as he doesn't hurt here, we won't have a problem."

"Let's just hope she doesn't expect us to befriend him and his friends," Harry said.

"That will never happen," Ron said with a laugh. "Hermione and Malfoy are the exception. You won't find any other Gryffindors and Slytherins getting on that well."

A few months later Ron was forced to accept he'd been wrong about Hermione and Draco being the exception. Once Hermione's friends were aware of her relationship, she and Draco went public and everything changed. The Gryffindors and Slytherins slowly began to spend time together, and Harry and Ron found that the snakes weren't so bad when you got to know them. The boys especially found that Pansy and Daphne were very likable, and the weekend after graduation they went on a double date with the girls from Slytherin. Very soon, Hermione and Draco weren't the only Gryffindor/Slytherin couple. Harry was more than happy dating Daphne, while Ron and Pansy also enjoyed a romance of their own.

 **The End.**


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